My Garden Walk. Week 8 the tulips are almost gone, the trees are all starting to bloom.

The tulips lasted a long time, but now they are fading fast. 

With the end of the Tulip Festival you would think there is 

nothing left to see in the gardens, but really there are so 

many other plants and trees getting ready to bloom.

One thing that I love is that there are not as many 

people walking around the gardens now.  

 When I go for a walk  now,I feel like I have the gardens to myself.

Allium

Snowball bush or Viburnum bush.

Columbine.

Wisteria by the waterfalls.

Finally a bee on a flower photo.  This

year I want to capture a lot of bee photos,

and it seems since I want to do that the bees are hiding.

Purplelicious.  A young Wisteria plant and Allium plants.

I love the pansies on the carousel horses.

Anemone.

The tulips are still doing well in the secret gardens.

Ranunculus.

I love how the Clematis is growing up a tree.

Another Bee photo.

Bachelor Button.

I love seeing all the different birds in the gardens, and 

just walking around and hearing them.

A Hummingbird Hawk Moth.

I missed seeing the goose family when the babies were little, but 

they are still cute.

Hope you enjoyed my favorite photos.

G.G.

Can you really get paid to do that ??? Swagbucks, Douhiring, Podcoin, FetchRewards, Reciept Pal, Dabbl, Blogging...

I'm one of those people who scrolls through Facebook Alot and you always see these ads to try out this app and you can make money.  There are also people who write blog post about side hustles that can help you make extra cash.  They always list doing surveys on Swagbucks or Survey Junkie. 
They also talk about joining Ibotta.  So I decided to sign up for a few of these apps and join a few of the different websites and see if you really can make money. 
The ones that I am trying are :
Swagbucks:  You can do this online and you can also download an app.  The App is pretty much surveys, the website you can do surveys, you can watch shows, you can play some free games. 
Douhiring:  This is an App that on facebook made it seem like in a couple of weeks you could have an extra $700.00 just by testing apps for three minutes.  Hmmm is this too good to be true?  I'm going to find out.
PodCoin:  This is an App that allows you to earn point for listening to podcast.  It doesn't boast big pay outs and I think what you can earn is Amazon gift cards (Who doesn't want an amazon gift card?).  I will tell you what I think of this one soon.
FetchRewards and ReceiptPal:  These are Apps that you take photos of your receipts and earn points and then can choose a different type of gift card as a reward.   FetchRewards only does grocery stores Reciepts and ReceiptPal does pretty much any receipt except you have to have the store name and date on your receipt so if the store doesn't print these then you don't get points.  So far I've earned the most gift cards with these two Apps. 
Dabbl: This is an App where you watch ads and rate them for points.  I'm not sure what you get because you have to earn 5000 points before you get a reward.  I've been doing this one for a few days now and I have about 2000 points.
Blogging:  Obviously I do a blog, and when I began blogging years ago the buzz was it would help you get a good job.  Now there are people who can make a living and more just by blogging.
I'm just not that good people.  I know one thing is that I'm a scattered blogger.  You need to have a focus and you need to have an audience.  I just don't have that.  So I am making no money. Plus blogging takes a huge amount of time, for my flower blog post just getting the photos ready to put in a post takes a couple of hours.  I blog as a way to be creative and to share my photography.  I'm not sure if I have many viewers, but if you happen along this blog I hope you enjoy it.
Over the next year I will write about these different websites and Apps and let you know just how much I've made in Amazon gift cards, and what I have learned.  I unlike many other bloggers am not getting paid by any of these Apps to rate them or to advertise for them.  So you will be able to trust my opinion.
Do you do any online side hustles?  What do you do?
G.G.

Flowers and Poetry. Dandelion.

DANDYTIME

His gift to me,

the long-forgotten tempo

of a boy's life

as we stop

then start our way

along the old railway

snapping stalks, altering fates

as we go.  Not a single clock

will be passed without being blown.

Roy Marshall (1966-)

THE SONG OF THE DANDELION FAIRY

Here's the Dandelions's Rhyme:

See my leaves with tooth-like edges;

Blow my clocks to tell the time;

see me flaunting by the hedges,

in the meadow, in the lane,

Gay and naughty in the garden;

Pull me up- I grow again,

Asking neither leave nor pardon.

Sillies, what are you about

with your spades and hoes of iron?

You can never drive me out-

Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Cicely Mary Barker  (1895-1973)

My mother and I were talking today and she said to me "I know why you like 

Dandelions, you grew up in Vermont.  Every lawn where we live right now has Dandelions growing

in it."  

I said " yes you are right.  We always had a lawn with Dandelions and all other types of plants

growing in it.  We never had a perfect grass lawn."

I don't understand the need to spray chemicals and only have grass.  I like a lawn with character.

my lawn is probably 99% weed and 1% grass.  But I known that I'm not spraying chemicals and killing everything.

The top poem came from the book "THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS poems"

The bottom poem came from the book "The COMPLETE BOOK OF THE FLOWER FAIRIES."

By Cicely Mary Barker.  

I have been enjoying reading both of these books and finding the flowers that go with the poems.

The Dandelion fairy picture is from the fairy book noted above.  If you have young children

and want to teach them about flowers in a magical way this is a book you should have.

There was another dandelion poem that I really liked but it was too long.

Look for  "TO THE DANDELION"   By James Russell Lowell (1819-91)

Day Date 2. Schedule time to relax, Farmington Bay, Bird watcing date.

My husband and I are starting our weekly dates again.

The weather has been warming up and I have been finding new places I want to 

explore.  If you feel like life is zipping away and you don't do anything but work,

you need to schedule time to relax.  That is what I do now.  I schedule time to 

go and do something out doors.  

This week we found Farmington Bay in Utah.

The above photo is of a Cinnamon Teal Duck.

This a a place you can visit that is free.  There are trails around different 

water ways and there are tons of different birds.  

There is a learning center with taxidermy birds.  The people in the learning

center are very nice and they let you barrow binoculars and bird books.

We walked on a few of the trails and saw quiet a few new

birds.  I think I could become a bird watcher.

An American Avocet and a Black-Necked Stilt.

A Killdeer.   It must have a nest near by as it kept pretending it was hurt.

Great Blue Heron. 

I think this is a Black-crowned Night-Heron.

Snowy Egret.

Eared Grebe.

Yellow Headed Black Bird.

The area is just beautiful.  It's so nice to feel so far away

from the city.  At times though you can be surrounded by

a lot of little bugs, but they don't bite.

It's lovely to go out and see birds in their natural habitat.  Please if

you go to these places don't disturb the birds.  They told us that someone came

in and took a birds nest and all the eggs.  That is just wrong. 

I have a very good zoom lens on my camera.  I was never very close to any of these

birds.  Even this little Killdeer was actually very far from me. 

I'm so thankful for my time away from the crazy work week.

What do you like to do on your days off to rest and relax?

G.G.

Farmington Bay 

Eccels Wildlife Center